CONTINUED FIGHTING

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 64, 13 September 1943, Page 6

CONTINUED FIGHTING

GERMANS AND ITALIANS

LONDON, September 11

Reports from the Swiss frontier continue to tell of fighting between Germans and Italians, especially in Milan. One Zurich newspaper reports extreme hostile demonstrations against the Germans in Milan, saying that excited crowds stormed German-owned busi-. ness premises and private houses. Another says that the Italians in Milan and Turin are resisting the Germans but are handicapped through lack of tanks. The Germans are stated to have occupied the main Milan railway station. ■'<< ..■.■-■- • x , ~ . The Italian news agency stated that intense artillery exchanges which took place for some xhours before the capitulation of Rome caused damage in the centre of /the city..: ■ A German communique states that the disarming of Marshal Badoglio's army is nearly complete, and German troops are advancing energetically wherever resistance is still being offered. Two tank and.five infantry divisions of the Italian Royal Guard unit stationed near Rome laid down their arms under pressure of energetic German measures.

The Italian garrison of Rhodes, in the Dodecanese Islands, capitulate! after it had been dive-bombed, the communique says. A message from Istanbul says the Italians have returned the island of Samos, off the Turkish coast, to the Greek Administration. Samos is thus 'the first Greek territory to return to Greek sovereignty. ■ Berlin radio stated that Albania and .Montenegro have proclaimed their independence. Ankara radio declared that the Ger.'mans have appointed the Italian, General Bergallo, military commander of .Rome. Bergallo will have at his disposal an infantry division with which to maintain order, and also the cooperation of the ( Italian police. The radio added that German guards have been posted before the gates of Vatican City. The Germans in Rome have occupied the. German Embassy building, Rome radio station, and the central telephone exchange. The Stefani news agency issued a message to the people of Rome from General Bergallo, stating: "The responsible authorities are taking energetic measures for the return of the city to normal. Everyone must stay at his post." The Italian radio broadcast a proclamation by Air Marshal Kesselring declaring martial law over all Italian territory under German control, providing the death penalty for organisers of strikes, saboteurs, franc-tireurs, ordering the immediate resumption of railway and postal services, and forbidding private correspondence.